The present invention relates to office machines of the general type which includes flat article feeders. The invention is particularly useful with respect to automatic envelope-labeling machines, such as described in my British Patent Specification 29062/73, and is therefore described with respect to that type machine.
There are a large number of office machines in which a plurality of flat articles (e.g., envelopes) are processed (e.g., labeled) and then fed from the processing station within the machine to another station outside of the machine, such as a stacker for stacking the articles in a pile. As a rule, such machines are large and bulky, and therefore occupy a considerable amount of office space both in their operating and non-operating conditions. Further, many machines include feed arrangements which do not permit continuous loading while the machine is in operation, and/or which cannot accommodate at one time flat articles of different dimensions.
My above-cited U.S. patent application Ser. No. 428,867 filed Dec. 27, 1973, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,203 describes an office machine particularly useful as an automatic envelope-labeling machine in which the output feeder includes a conveyor platform having a plurality of hinged sections permitting the platform to be disposed in either an extended operative position for conveying the processed flat articles (labeled envelopes), or in a folded non-operative position wherein the hinged sections are folded to conform to the configuration of the machine casing. The machine described in that application also includes an input feeder for feeding the unlabled envelopes into the machine. The input feeder therein described permits continuous loading while the machine is in operation, and also accommodates at one time envelopes of different dimensions.